The building stands on the site of the former Ownby Stadium, the school's previous on-campus football stadium. Ownby was demolished starting in late October 1998 in order to clear the land designated for the new stadium. Ford Stadium opened on September 2, 2000 with a football game against the University of Kansas. The north-south oriented stadium is bowl-shaped, with stands on three sides (west, east, and north). SMU can one day develop south side seating, extending the stadium's seating capacity to 45,000.